We shouldn't be on vacation

Last week Joel was working in Milwaukee.  He got home Thursday, and on Saturday we left for vacation.  Which we don't have time for.  But we had planned to go camping at the Wisconsin Dells months ago.  We booked the trip along with my sister's family and my parents.  So even though we're in the middle of all of this - we decided not to cancel and just enjoy.  And we have! We took our camper to Mt. Olympus.  The kids have had a blast - they rode go-karts, a roller coaster, played at the indoor water park, and enjoyed s'mores by the fire.  Today we rode the Duck Ride.  Tonight we're cozied up in the camper with a light rain, and tomorrow we head home.  Back to reality...

Megan and cousin Elizabeth

The One??

After being up in Milwaukee with the kids and involving them in the process, we needed to make some progress faster.  So last week Joel and I went by ourselves for a few days while Mom and Dad watched the kids here at home.  We saw 15 properties in two days - most of them on the first day.  Our realtor told us that the rules of the game are - if you don't like it when we pull up and aren't interested, we can just move on.  I thought that seemed kind of crazy.  Come all this way and not go into a house?  Then we pulled into the place by the county landfill.  Literally - we drove past the dump on our way, turned the corner, went down the street a bit and there was the house.  Cute as it could be, but I sure wouldn't ever open the windows!  We didn't go in.  So on we went - property after property.  One had a beautiful yard, but everything inside was outdated.  One had a gorgeous house, but there was almost no yard to play in.  One had good potential, but it was just too much of a fixer upper.   One had a beautiful house, but so much road noise we had to raise our voices outside of the car.  One had a lovely home with a nice pool on seven gorgeous wooded acres, but the taxes were impossibly high.  So many almosts.   We got to the end of two days exhausted, overwhelmed, and not any closer than when we had left.  I went to bed that night praying - Lord please find us our new forever home.
Four days later our realtor emailed us a property to look at.  It had potential, and Joel thought so, too.  Enough so that I wondered - is this the one?   We knew Joel was working in Milwaukee this week so we made an appt for him to see it Tuesday night.  We had learned the hard way that photos can be VERY deceiving so I said , " Let me know if you're disappointed, but if you really like it you could make an offer."  He said, "I can't make an offer without you!!"  To which I responded, "Yes you can!"  I was thinking I have seen nearly 20 properties in locations all over the greater Milwaukee area and beyond.  If this meets our criteria, I don't need to see another 20.
Tuesday night Joel called and said he wasn't disappointed.  In fact it was his favorite yet.  We spent an hour on the phone after the kids went to bed.  He talked me through it room by room and emailed pictures.  By the end of the conversation we had decided to make an offer.  The next day he called the realtor, and by Wednesday night we had our offer emailed to us to print, sign, and return.   Tonight Joel gets home and we'll have to read through each form, fill them out, and hopefully fax it back tomorrow.  Then we wait and see...  Until then here are some pics of the house.

House Hunting with Kids!

This week Joel started his new job with Caterpillar Global Mining in Milwaukee.  His office is actually in Oak Creek.  It's close to Milwaukee airport so he sees planes going overhead all the time.  We stayed at a hotel, and the kids and I did school while Joel was at work.  Then in the evenings we did some house hunting. 

First of all let me just say - Hail to my minivan.  We had a rental for the week and oh my goodness sakes.  We were like clowns in a VW.  I can't count the number of times we said to the kids- stay on your own side and keep your hands to yourself!  Except that their own side had them almost shoulder to shoulder.  Certainly no DVD player, and it took us two hours before we found the cup holders in the back.  It's fairly embarrassing to get out of the car to meet a realtor, and have water bottles and Pringles cans falling onto the ground.  As for the trunk - we showed no mercy.  Lesson learned - the gas money is worth it.

So we saw four homes on our trip.  Since we've already seen three - we'll call them house 4-7.  

House 4 was absolutely beautiful - professionally decorated and a newer build.  3 bedrooms.  It was on three acres with a pond.  Here are a few photos.

The problem was there was almost no storage.  And the yard was so sloped that I don't even know where we'd put the trampoline let alone a pool.  So beautiful, but I'm not sure how functional it would be.  

House number 5 was on three acres and had a shed larger than most homes.  Seriously.  It was very expensive, but just not as well kept up.  Cross off the list.  

House 6 was a bit further from work for Joel, but in a beautiful area.  Hills and fields all around and a wonderful yard.  The property had 5 acres with an above ground pool that had seen better days.  The house was fine, but just not updated anywhere.  Pink tub, bright yellow sink, etc.  We'd have to put in a lot of time and money - so cross off the list.  

House 7 was the last one we saw.  It was a possibility.  It was built in the 70's but the family had done many updates.  There were four bedrooms and a small bonus room.  There was a huge basement, and two family areas.  They had a deck off the back with a hottub, and an above ground pool.  There was an extra garage with a wood stove and electric run to it.  It was on 7 acres and backed up to a nature preserve so no one will build behind it.  Oh - there was a Koi pond, too. :) Here are a few pictures.

Joel and I head back next Monday and Tuesday to see several more.  We're going back to house 1 and house 7.  I'll let you know how it goes!

First three properties

I went on our first house hunting trip on Monday - Mom and Dad came with me.  We only got to see three properties, but it was a start.  What a help to have several sets of eyes!  The funny thing was how we all focused on different things.  Comparing notes afterwards was the best part.  House 1 was a 10 acre hobby farm with a huge machine shed, extra garage, small shed, and home.  There were horses in a pasture as we pulled up that ran over to the edge of the fence and literally followed us as we drove like dogs.  We wished we had apples!  We have no idea who they belong to because we didn't see horse stalls.  But they were fun to watch.  Unfortunately we found the house to be less charming.  Cross off House 1.

House 2 was also on about 10 acres.  It had a pole barn, tons of pine trees planted with a trail going through them, the biggest non commercial garden I've ever seen in my life, and a house on the property.  The lane was long which made me think we'd become friends with the snow plow.  When we got out of the car it smelled like Christmas.  This house was interesting.  Different - and kind of hard to describe.  It had several sliding doors which let in all kinds of sunlight, and knobby pine on some of the walls and ceilings.  Trying to see our furniture and how we'd live there took a little mental rearranging, but I liked it.

House 3 was on a little less than 3 acres.  It was very updated and the wood floors were beautiful.  Outside there was an extra garage and a very nice outdoor kitchen area.  It wasn't wooded and there was a lot of mowing.  But overall it was very nice.

Right now if I had to choose one property to bring Joel to see it would be House 2.  We're planning our next house hunting date for early September and this time he gets to go, so we're excited.  I'll try to add some pictures as we go.

House Hunting

Tomorrow is our first house hunting trip!  Joel has to work out of town, so I'm going with my parents.  The kids are staying with my sister.  We're looking south of Waukesha and around Mukwonago tomorrow.   We'd love to find a property that has a couple of acres for the kids to play, but we'll see.  I'll let you know how it goes.

We had a good weekend at home - the kids were dog sitting for a good friend of ours.  They have three dogs so we were busy!  The kids love it and were sad to say goodbye to them this afternoon.

Here they are holding Elly and Rosie.

We're moving!

Well, we've had lots of people asking us about our move to the Milwaukee area in Wisconsin.  So I decided to start a blog to keep friends and family posted.  I have never had a blog and have no idea how this works, so we'll see!

About 4-5 months ago, Joel came to me with the idea of a job change in Milwaukee.  I didn't balk at the idea as I have in the past.  Aurora?  No.  Decatur?  No  San Antonio - too hot.  No.  Milwaukee?  Well maybe - so we went there and we liked it.  Next came the job.  Joel was and is really interested in global mining with Cat, so as positions opened up he was watching.  When this one came along, he applied and got it.  All of a sudden - we're moving!  We're excited and overwhelmed all at the same time.  As we get ready to go and make the change, I'll try to keep this up to date.